Peter Bell – Founder of CTO Connection, Psychotherapist #60

Peter Bell has a long history of building tech companies and holding down roles like CEO and CTO. After studying electronics and communications systems engineering, Peter promptly went into private practice as a psychotherapist. He then returned to tech to add a long string of founder titles to his resume. Over the years, Peter has built web design companies, digital agencies, and sales and tech training companies. He’s worked for the likes of Github and General Assembly, as well as a variety of smaller firms. Peter is also an active community builder, public speaker and a fellow podcaster. If you are enjoying our content, click here to support us!

Episode Summary

“I was doing fine with this degree thing, but I didn’t want to work for a company that was dumb enough not to hire me without a piece of paper.” “I wanted to be the next Tony Robbins and start a psychotherapy practice. Then I figured out that sales and psychotherapy are fundamentally the same practice just with different payment mechanisms.” “There is a lot more commonality between being a VP of engineering and an individual contributor. Being a manager is almost something totally different.” —Peter Bell

Key Milestones

1. Before we dive into the tech Peter tells us more about his private practice as a psychotherapist
2. When did Peter first recognize he wanted to be an entrepreneur?
3. Going the founder route is often a roller coaster of a ride. Peter recalls some of the key inflection points that helped define him as a founder.
4. What was the inspiration for CTO School, CTO Summit and the CTO Connection and who is the target audience?
5. What are some of the key lessons Peter has learned about being in the CTO role over all these years?

Additional Resources

Introduction to domain specific languages - https://www.codemag.com/article/0607051/Introducing-Domain-Specific-Languages Learn more about CTO connection - https://www.ctoconnection.com/ Ep. 4 Goldman Sachs Saved My Tech Career, with Camille Fournier The Manager’s Path: A Guide for Tech Leaders Navigating Growth and Change - by Camille Fournier FOLLOW CTO SUMMIT @CTOSummit CONNECT WITH PETER BELL LinkedIn CONNECT WITH GRANT INGERSOLLLinkedInTwitter